http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-parents-quit-singapore-inquest-sons-death-19230270
Shane Truman Todd's body was found in his Singapore apartment by his girlfriend last June 24, and police have said he killed himself.
State counsel presented evidence of links to suicide websites on the 31-year-old's laptop and suicide letters written to his family members and loved ones.
But parents Rick and Mary Todd have said they consider the evidence fake. They told The Associated Press in March that they believe he may have been murdered over his research in the U.S. into material used to make heat-resistant semiconductors, a technology with both civilian and military applications. The Todds have received assistance in the case from U.S. senators and the FBI.
On Tuesday, a key witness in the ongoing inquest withdrew his initial claims that Todd was strangled. The state, meanwhile, introduced a witness who contradicts the parents' claim that their son was killed before June 23.
The parents, who traveled to Singapore from their home in Montana, issued a statement Wednesday saying they will no longer participate in the inquest and will return to the U.S.
"We have been told that the coroner's inquiry is not adversarial, rather it is a fact-finding mission with the sole purpose of getting to the truth," the statement said. "This has not been our experience. We no longer have confidence in the transparency in the findings of the system. It appears to us that the outcome has already been predetermined."
Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said the government regrets the family's decision to leave the inquiry.
District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt said the inquest would continue with the remaining witnesses. The inquest's conclusions are final and cannot be appealed.
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